Page 116 of Tiger's Voyage

That got the dragon’s attention. The fog turned black, and the dragon whipped its head around and bit the air. It narrowed its eyes.

You may not speak to me in that manner.

Ren threatened. “I’ll speak to you in any manner I wish. You almost killed her.”

Killed who? Oh. The little girl? I never touched her.

“Your filthy beast did. If she had died, I would have come up here and killed you.”

She obviously didn’t die, so you should be happy. I warned you that thetask was hard.

Kishan stepped forward. “Give us what you promised.”

The dragon moved a heavy limb and bared its neck.Take it then.

A large disk hung from the dragon’s neck by a thick leather cord. Kishan stepped forward and, using thechakram, freed the disk. The brothers turned and headed back to me.

The blue dragon shifted its bulk noisily.Don’t I get a thank you?Qnglóng said.After all, the sky disk is no trifle.

Ren picked me up and turned his head slightly toward the dragon. “Neitheris she.”

I looked up into Ren’s blue eyes. His livid expression calmed somewhat, and he pressed his forehead against mine for a brief moment. Then he passed me to Kishan, said, “Help her,” picked up the disk, and started down the stairs.

17

Remembering

Iprotested that I could try to walk, but Kishan ignored me and carried me down the stairs. My leg had started bleeding through the bandage, and I asked the Scarf to wrap it several more times until the bleeding stopped.

When we finally got to the pool, Ren was already waiting for us. I didn’t relish the thought of getting back into the water with the kraken again, but I gamely slipped on my tank.

Kishan had just offered me his goggles when Ren interrupted. “Her goggles are here. So is your other flipper. Fanindra brought them up.”

A golden head popped out of the water. I leaned over to pat her head, and she slid over my arm. Kishan checked the gauges on my tank as Ren slid into the water.

“Her tank’s low.”

“We’ll share,” Ren replied.

I watched him drop all his weights, but he still couldn’t achieve buoyancy with the sky disk. It was too heavy. When I expressed concern, he turned away and said, “I’ll manage.”

Ren took the bag I’d made with the Scarf and positioned the strap across his chest while I equalized the pressure in my ears.

“We’ll have to be quick,” Kishan warned. “We’ll just swim across and get out of here as fast as we can. If we run into the kraken again, just turn around and swim back here. We’ll figure out a different way to get back to the yacht. Okay?”

“Okay.”

He smiled and kissed my nose before lowering his goggles. I took an experimental breath on the regulator and dove through the hole in the pool, following Ren. Fanindra stayed close to me as we descended. The sea snakes swarmed to welcome her back and surrounded us as we swam.

It was dark again without the light of the kraken, but Fanindra seemed to know the way. She gave off just enough light that we could see ourselves cocooned in our sea snake bubble. I kept my eyes peeled for the kraken, but there was no sign of it. Still, it seemed like giant eyes were watching our progress and I expected a quivering tentacle to snatch me away to oblivion.

My nerves stood on end. I felt like I was one of those dumb high school girls in a scary movie that opens doors she shouldn’t, putting herself in harm’s way, deliberately taunting the monster chasing her. The only difference was, I wasn’t making out with a boyfriend in a haunted house or wearing a miniskirt.

We crossed the black cavern without incident and made it back to the small passageway. Ren entered first, surrounded by wriggling snakes. I steeled myself to follow.

By the time we’d made it through the other side, my air tank was empty. I gave Ren a signal, and he nodded, handing his regulator to me. I sucked a deep breath and passed it back. We did this a couple of times until Kishan emerged from the passageway. He touched my arm and nodded, indicating that he would share with me now so Ren could lead on.

Being underwater without my own air was frightening. It was all I could do to stop myself from swimming wildly up. I knew there was nothing above me but rock, but the intense survival instinct to head for the surface was compelling. The only thing that kept me grounded was Kishan’s solid presence at my side.